Kelly A. Dancho, Rachel H. Thompson, & Melissa M. Rhoades.
Teaching preschool children to avoid poison hazards.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 2008,
41, 267-271.
We evaluated the effectiveness of group safety training and in
situ feedback and response interruption to teach preschool
children to avoid consuming potentially hazardous substances.
Three children ingested ambiguous substances during a baited
baseline assessment condition and continued to ingest these
substances following group safety training. In situ feedback
and response interruption resulted in a decrease in opening
ambiguous containers; this decrease was maintained when
ambiguous novel containers were presented and when
assessments occurred in a novel setting and with a novel
experimenter. For 2 children, these gains were also maintained
during a brief follow-up period. Twelve children did not ingest
ambiguous substances prior to training, and group safety training
did not evoke inappropriate ingestion.
DESCRIPTORS: behavioral skills training, modeling, poison prevention, safety